Like it or not, it's that time of year again. At least we have the continuing EH-Net tradition of an Ed Skoudis Holiday Challenge to get you through those days of brain freeze... and maybe even system freezes. Dive into the head of Ed Skoudis as he takes you into the cyberpunk world of Neal Stephenson with a little twist as only Ed can deliver.

Remember Challenge Fans, as always, we’ll award three prizes: One for the best technical answer, one for the most creative answer that is technically correct, and one awarded to a winner chosen randomly. Thus, if you can’t answer all of the questions, still send something in to qualify for the random winner. This month’s prize is my book, Malware: Fighting Malicious Code, which I authored with Lenny Zeltser.

Hey guys... diligent reader Andy tried Mike Poor's recipe for cooking turkey on a MacBook Pro, and kindly suggested some updates. Apparently, the original recipe, which does make a tasty turkey, slimes the MacBook Pro. Doh! Who would have guessed that? Happily, Andy amended the recipe to make it safer for the laptop as follows:

"Oh yeah, Mr. Poor's recipe is crap. I'm sitting here with a weirdgelatinous goo dripping between my legs, the bottom of my MacBook Prois almost too slippery for me to type, AND I'm only trying this with a10lb turkey, well below the specified 20lb limit. As my momma alwayssaid, turkeys are suppose to be cooked in a bag...or deep fried butthat's off topic. Please Mr. Poor, do not be offended but I wouldrecommend changing the recipe to include a cooking bag. If you areconcerned about not getting that nice, crispy, artery-clogging skin,may I also recommend removing the bag for the last quarter of theremaining battery charging time and start a Vista image in Fusion..."

Thanks, Andy, for the helpful suggestion. Oh, and pass on the thanks from the whole Ethical Hacking community to your Momma.

If you have time over the next few days I would highly recommend trying the challenge. I had a lot of fun with it and learned as well. The only problem i had was obsessing over the things i didn't understand until I figured them out... who needs sleep anyway

Oh, and good luck with the CCNA! I'd be curious to see how that goes for you.

I kick myself for not having made time to submit a response. Unfortunately I was swamped at work, and with my finalized CCNA work. Needless to say, I did learn a decent bit through the cursory search on some of the commands used in the challenge and their options. I had no clue that wmic was that interesting.

Thanks for your interest in the challenges. The answers and winners are usually posted in a couple weeks. I know you weren't complaining but simply asking. Hope you don't mind if I take this question as a small opportunity to expand and give thanks to all of those who offer up the content for EH-Net.

I just wanted to throw out a general reminder that we try our best to get things out quickly. Pretty much everything that happens on this site is done so in people's spare time and with enormous generosity. I maintain this site and am the founder and organizer of ChicagoCon while still having a full time gig as does Ed, Dan, Chris, Brian, Rich, the other challenge writers, article authors and the numerous participants in these forums.